Growing Old But Living On
by myhorserockyrocks
Summary: Arthur finds Molly sitting alone in their room and crying about an empty nest and growing old, so he comforts her. Written for the first round of The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition.


**Author's Note: Hey all! This story is written for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition. Please enjoy!**

**Characters: Arthur and Molly Weasley**

**Relationship: Romantic**

**Prompts: Postcards, "What on earth are you doing?", and "Do not regret growing old. It is a privilege denied to many."**

**Words: 1,078**

Arthur Weasley frowned as he entered his house. It was quiet- too quiet, he reflected. His wife, Molly, was nowhere to be found. Arthur proceeded forward into the rest of the house, passing through the living room and into the kitchen. It was completely empty. Of course, he was used to Bill, Charlie, Percy, and George gone, and maybe even Ginny, though she'd only left a little more than a year ago when she married Harry Potter. However, Arthur was still getting used to Ron being gone, as he'd only left a week ago when he married Hermione Granger.

Grabbing an apple, he began to wander up the stairs. At the first landing, Arthur smiled upon seeing Fred and George's room. George was off and married to Angelina Johnson now and had a three-month-old son named Fred after his dead twin. Unexpectedly, Arthur felt tears spring to his eyes and wiped them away, proceeding on his upward climb.

The next landing held his only daughter, Ginny's, room. It was still hard to believe that his little girl now had her own baby, James Sirius, who was only a week old. Coincidentally, Ginny had gone into labor at Ron's wedding. She, Harry, and now James lived in a quaint cottage in Godric's Hollow, not far from Harry's birthplace.

Next, Arthur approached Percy's old bedroom. He sighed when he reached it, thinking of all the good and bad times he'd had with his third oldest son. The fight swan forth to the front if his mind and he grimaced. If there was anything he'd learned over the years of his life, it was not to take time for granted. Fred's death had taught him that. Now, Arthur was excited to point out, Percy and himself were closer than they'd ever been.

As he moved on, there was still no sign of Molly.

The next room Arthur came across was the one that had been shared by his eldest two sons, Bill and Charlie. Bill was now a successful Curse-Breaker at Gringotts Wizarding Bank, married to Fleur Delacour, and had two beautiful daughters, five-year-old Victoire and two-year-old Dominique. Charlie, on the other hand, had raced off as soon as he'd graduated from Hogwarts for Romania and the dragons. He was still a bachelor, and they only saw him at Christmas and sometimes during the summer or Easter.

With only two rooms left in the house- his and Ron's- Arthur trudged on, knowing that if Molly wasn't in these two rooms she was likely outside, or perhaps not in the house at all. He climbed the stairs to the next landing, where his and Molly's room lay.

Finally, upon reaching his own room, Arthur found his wife. Molly was sitting on their bed, tears rolling down her cheeks as she looked at a pile of postcards that were in front of her."What on earth are you doing?" he said, slightly alarmed.

Molly looked up at him, seeming sadder than Arthur had ever seen her. "It's just so sad!" she said, turning back to look at the postcard. Arthur came up behind his wife to see what exactly she was looking at.

Suddenly, everything dawned on him. The postcard was of their youngest son, Ron, and his new wife, Hermione, on their honeymoon in America. The two were featured in a picture on the front of the postcard, holding hands and standing in front of the White House.

Molly's sadness still didn't seem to register in Arthur, so he was now more perplexed than ever. For him, the empty house left lots of possibilities. Plus, since they had been raising kids for so long, Arthur reckoned that they'd missed out on a lot of time together, which he was hoping they could get caught up on. Also, it wasn't like this was the only time it had ever just been them here for an extended period of time- once Ginny had gone off to Hogwarts it had been just the two of them for ten months out of the year. His confusion was why he asked his next question.

"Why are you crying?" Arthur asked, confused. He instantly knew he'd said the wrong thing, for Molly burst into renewed sobs. Sitting down beside her, he rubbed light circles on her back. Finally, she calmed down enough to answer his question.

"I just hate our empty house! For so long, we had children in this house. Heck, just a week ago Ron still lived here! Now, all of our children have left and it's just us! We even have a good number of grandchildren. There's Victoire, Dominique, Molly, Fred, and James!" Molly looked off into the distance, her beautiful brown eyes misted over with unshed tears.

Arthur felt himself grow slightly angry at that statement. "Don't you like being around me?" he grumbled. By her previous statements, Arthur felt like Molly only married gim to have children, so he got understandably angry and upset.

However, Molly's wide, gorgeous brown eyes pulled him back to reality. He loved the way she pursed her lips when she got distressed, something Ginny and Molly both shared. Arthur also loved the way she looked at him, a tender glance with so much love, so much passion, behind it. Arthur felt ashamed that he had ever doubted her.

"Arthur! I'm so sorry you would ever percieve that to be the case! It's not that I don't want to spend time with you, it's the empty nest syndrome. All of the kids leaving just makes me think about our youth, and how it's left us. It makes me almost wish that we'd died when we were in our prime so that we wouldn't have to go through this. I hate being old," Molly said, sighing.

Arthur pulled her in to a warm embrace, stroking her hair with his fingers. She curled up into him, breathing slower than before. Just then, Arthur remembered a quote he'd heard from somewhere a couple years ago. "Do not regret growing old. It is a privilege denied to many," he murmured, smiling as the words left his lips.

They were perfect. It reminded him of Fred, Remus, Tonks, and even little Colin Creevey who had all died in the Battle of Hogwarts. Molly looked up into Arthur's blue eyes, giving him a watery smile. "Thank you," she whispered, leaning up to kiss him on the lips.

"I love you, Molly."

"I love you too, Arthur."


End file.
